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MST3K 820 - Space Mutiny
The Movie Synopsis The Southern Sun is a generation ship, or a spacefaring vessel that contains a large number of people, whose mission is to colonize a new world. Its voyage has lasted generations, so many of its inhabitants have been born and will die without ever setting foot on solid ground. This does not please the antagonist, Elijah Kalgan, who conspires with the pirates infesting the nearby Corona Borealis system and the ship’s Chief Engineer MacPhearson. Kalgan hatches a plot to disrupt the Southern Sun’s navigation systems and use the Enforcers, the ship’s police force, to hijack the ship and direct it towards this system. At this point, the inhabitants of the Southern Sun will have no choice but to accept his "generosity". Kalgan sabotages a key part of the ship just as an important professor's shuttle is on a landing trajectory. The loss of guidance control causes the ship to explode. The shuttle's pilot, Dave Ryder, is able to escape, but the professor dies in the explosion. This sabotage seals off the flight deck for a number of weeks, which gives Kalgan the opportunity to attempt to wrest control. With the Enforcers in his hand, and with the flight deck out of commission, he holds the entire population of the Southern Sun hostage. Commander Jansen and Captain Devers enlist Ryder’s assistance, aided begrudgingly by Jansen’s daughter Dr. Lea Jansen, to regain control of the ship. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0096149/. During this conflict a number of characters meet with untimely ends due to railing kills. As Mike Nelson says in the DVD intro, "It's kinda hard to figure out what the 'mutiny' really is." In any case, we can be sure that many people fall over safety railings in the course of their deaths. for Sting and Dolph here?"]] Information *A prominent member of the Southern Sun's bridge crew is killed during a bar scene in an apparent attempt to make the plot more interesting. However, she is in the next scene alive and well at her console on the bridge. No mention is made of any twins (though, to give the movie the benefit of the doubt, she's only briefly seen in the foreground and is not featured again after her death). *The space-battle footage is all lifted from the TV series Battlestar Galactica (1978). http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0096149/trivia The SOL crew do not comment on this during the episode, but mention of it was made later on the MST3K section of the Sci-Fi Channel website. The BBI staff apparently did not recognize the footage as being recycled until after the episode aired. *Two of Cameron Mitchell's children had bit parts in this movie. His son Chip played the thinly mustached Blake who apologizes for the "scanty" information. His daughter Cammile was the voice of the lead Bellerian, Jennera. *Actor James Ryan, who is the object of several jabs by the SOL Crew for his rather well-done (yet vaguely psychotic) performance as one of the two villains, starred in many similarly low-budgeted South African productions like this. *The other mutiny leader is played by John Phillip Law, who (like Robert Z'Dar and Joe Estevez) would be in more than one movie experiment during the show's final seasons. Law starred in Diabolik, the final episode/experiment. *Reb Brown and Cisse Cameron are actually married in real-life and were already a wedded couple when Space Mutiny was filmed. Contrary to the SOL crew's jokes, Cameron is actually a few years younger than Brown. *Cisse Cameron would later claim that Space Mutiny was intended to be a spoof of science fiction films. *About Mike's understandable confusion regarding the mutiny, while Kalgan himself is obviously evil, sites such as TV.Tropes point out that all we really know about the other mutineers is they don't want to spend the rest of their lives on the ship. The only attempt the movie makes to portray this as wrong is a scene saying that leaving the ship before arriving at its predetermined destination would break "the law of the universe," but it then declines to provide any specifics. *RiffTrax presented Space Mutiny live on June 14, 2018, complete with new jokes and new nicknames for David Ryder. (Flex Limpshaft, Burpee McCrossfit, Crash McPunchFace, Gunner Battlepants...) The Episode Host Segments '''Opening: Crow and Tom think the encyclopedias that Mike has are a little dated. Intro: Mike gets more encyclopedias, but the bots complain about missing complaining. In ancient Rome, Pearl, Bobo and Observer are thrown in jail under guard. Their attempts to recover Observer's brain so he can observe them to freedom don't go so good. Segment One: Mike tries to have tea in peace, but is interrupted by the bots fighting in the Hyper-Warp Escape Pods. Apparently they were in the hold, waiting for them to escape with. Segment Two: Crow's a Bellerian. Or is he? Bobo's escape plan fails. As usual. Segment Three: In the spirit of the many safety railing-related deaths in the movie, Servo installs railings, in case OSHA stops by. Typical for Servo, he installs them completely at random. Mike is not pleased. End: Tom is buff, Crow is not, Pearl and Brain Guy escape jail when a guard accidentally gives back Observer's brain, and Bobo burns down Rome. Stinger: David Ryder screams. Trivia *'Unusual Credits: '''The fire can be heard spreading underneath the music. *The many nicknames given to Dave Ryder is a gag developed from a smaller running gag during ''12 to the Moon. The earliest occurrence may have been the second season opener Rocketship X-M, where Hugh O'Brian is spontaneously described as "Dirk Squarejaw". *This episode marks the final appearance of the Ancient Rome setting, where the Mads made their escape from imprisonment and Bobo accidentally burns it down. *Ranked 2nd in the Top 100 Episodes as chosen by backers of the Bring Back MST3K Kickstarter, and shown during Turkey Day '16. It was the highest-ranked episode of the Sci-Fi Channel era, and the highest-ranked episode starring Mike. *This was intern Todd Severson’s first episode. * This episode aired first during Turkey Day '13, fifth during Turkey Day '16, and first during Turkey Day '19. Callbacks * "Guard! Guard! Sick man!" (Red Zone Cuba) * During the host segments, Pearl asks a guard for moisturizer in a manner similar to that used by the prisoners in Red Zone Cuba. * The final segment is not the first time the bots have bulked up. They had previously tried it in Hercules Against the Moon Men. Quotes & References *''"Like Pat Riley here."'' :A reference to the former coach of the Los Angeles Lakers, and currently team president of the Miami Heat, known for his severely slicked back hairstyle. *''"Special effects by Industrial Light and Morons."'' :A reference to George Lucas' special effects house, Industrial Light & Magic (the footage in Space Mutiny is re-used from the original Battlestar Galactica TV series which Lucas later sued when he saw the notable similarities). *''"Da da dah dah LAME..."'' :To the tune of Strauss' "The Blue Danube", which was used in a docking scene in the movie 2001: A Space Odyssey. *''"Sting, Debbie Reynolds, and God."'' :Gordon Matthew Thomas "Sting" Sumner is a musician with a slender build and close cropped light colored hair who the Captain Devers character somewhat resembled. Debbie Reynolds (April 1, 1932 – December 28, 2016) was an American actress with blonde hair and similar pixie-ish features like those of Cisse Cameron. Historically, depictions of God have often been of an older, bearded man similar to how the Commander Jansen character appears. *''"Kalgan, blow me away!"'' :A play on the classic advertising slogan for Calgon water softener, which was "Calgon, take me away!" *''"Have you signed Sherri's Birthday card?"'' :Running gag throughout the movie as if they were passing around a birthday card in an office for all to sign. *''"Oi!"'' :Uttered after some lines by the Captain Devers character, this is a reference to a series of Energizer battery commercials where Mark "Jacko" Jackson would scream "Oi!" at the camera. The captain and Jacko share similar hairstyles, and their accents (South African and Australian, respectively) sound similar to Americans. *''"John Waters!"'' :John Waters is a thinly-mustached filmmaker who first made a name for himself with intentionally offensive movies such as Pink Flamingos and later created such mainstream ventures as Hairspray. *''"Drank too much Surge!"'' :Surge was a heavily caffeinated soft drink marketed by the Coca-Cola Company during the late 1990s. *''"Death by snicker-snag!"'' :Snicker-snagging is a playground stunt where a bully pins his victim and dangles saliva over his face. *''"Without Metrecal, this would not be possible."'' :Metrecal was a diet product introduced in 1960 and intended as a meal replacement. *''"Mother Angelica Aerobics!"'' :Mother Angelica (1923-2016) was a nun who founded the Eternal Word Television Network, a cable network specializing in Catholic-oriented programming. *''"You've got mail!"'' :America Online was a popular online service in the 90s which provided dial up internet access. The America Online client software used then would announce that users had email by displaying an open mailbox and playing a "You've got mail!" sound. *''"Oh Gopher, are you lost?"'' :Burl "Gopher" Smith was the yeoman-purser on The Love Boat. Gopher was played by Fred Grandy, who would go on to represent Iowa in Congress following the series. *''"This is less subtle than an Annie Sprinkle performance piece!"'' :Annie Sprinkle is a performance artist known for the bizarre sexual content of her work. *''"Bennigan's, 1985!"'' :Bennigan's is a chain of Irish pub themed restaurants that was established in 1976. By the mid 1980s Bennigan's became known as a mid range fern bar. *''"Wow, it's like Nick and Nora Charles."'' :Nick and Nora Charles were characters created by Dashiell Hammett, a married couple who solved crimes, best known for their witty banter. *''"She's got an armadillo in her trousers!"'' :A line from the 1984 movie This Is Spinal Tap. *''"It's Kevorkian."'' :A doctor in the "Deep Freeze" area of the spaceship is surrounded by dead bodies wearing underwear and wrapped in plastic. He resembles the late Dr. Jack Kevorkian, the American doctor known for his use of assisted suicide. *''"God I love Pac-Man."'' :Commander Calgon is staring at a video monitor that is pulsating light. Crow's quote was made to suggest that Commander Calgon is actually playing a game of Pac Man, a video game created in Japan in 1980. *''"Whaddya' got for me Rick Astley."'' :Mike is noting that the crew member who's accessing the computer resembles 1980's pop singer Rick Astley. *''"RAWHIDE! RAWHIDE!"'' :Mike makes this reference because as the automatic sliding door opens, it makes a noise much like the crack of a whip. This is heard in the opening soundtrack to the 1960s TV western ''Rawhide''. *''"Hey, how about some sugar for Sting and Dolph here?"'' :Dolph Lundgren is a Swedish actor with a large muscular build and blonde hair who played a number of roles in action films - including Rocky IV and Masters of the Universe. *''"Stupid Buddhist monk. The Vietnam war has been over for hundreds of years."'' :Two "Enforcers" are chasing the protagonists down a staircase and have to climb over a burning body when Mike Nelson makes the above comment. This is in reference to the act of self immolation, likely that of Thích Quảng Đức in particular, due to its prominence in history texts. This riff reflects a common misconception that this was done in protest of the Vietnam War, but was in fact in protest of anti-Buddhist policies of the then-current (and Catholic) president Ngô Đình Diệm prior to a successful coup to remove him. *''"Not since the Fuzzy Zoeller-Lee Trevino collision of 1974 has there been such a horrible golf cart accident."'' :Both Fuzzy Zoeller and Lee Trevino were professional golfers throughout the 1970s. *''"Push on, mighty Cushman!"'' :Cushman is a manufacturer of vehicles for industrial and personal use, such as street sweepers and three-wheelers. *''"The Honeymooners!"'' :The explosions of the Pirate fleet upon missile impact reminded Tom Servo of the fireworks seen as part of the opening titles of the 1950s sitcom The Honeymooners, starring Jackie Gleason and Art Carney. *''"They woke up The Oak Ridge Boys!"'' :The Oak Ridge Boys are a country music quartet, famous for their 1981 hit "Elvira". *''"Sounds like Kitaro fell asleep on his keyboard."'' :Kitarō (aka Masanori Takahashi) is a Japanese keyboardist, regarded by many as a pioneer in the New Age music movement. *''"A horse! My kingdom for a horse!"'' :One of King Richard's famous quotes from Shakespeare's play Richard III, in which Richard is typically portrayed as limping and/or walking with the aid of a cane. *''"Ho ho, ho!'' *''Finally, Christmas comes to Santa."'' *''"Mrs. Kringle and I have an understanding."'' *''"Wanna see me shake like a bowl full of jelly?"'' *''"Someone DID leave a cookie out for me!"'' *''"I am a right jolly old elf."'' *''"Let me just check you twice, dear."'' :These are various references to the commander of the Southern Sun, who bears some resemblance to Santa Claus. Some of these riffs make reference to Clement Clarke Moore's poem Twas the Night Before Christmas. *''"So, this takes place at the Anheuser-Busch brewery...?"'' :Anheuser-Busch is a major brewer of beers founded by Eberhard Anheuser and Adolphus Busch in the 1860s. Anheuser-Busch breweries have been used for films that needed an industrial setting for some scenes - such as V'', ''Robocop 2, and the "Kelvin Timeline" Star Trek films. *''"I must say!" / "If I do say so myself!"'' :Reference to the character Ed Grimley who was created and performed by Martin Short. *''"Into a nice sitz bath."'' :A sitz bath is a form of hydrotherapy, which uses water to relive pains and ailments. *''"Recommended by top breeders."'' :This was the tagline used by the makers of Pedigree dog food until 2007. *''"Any second, Lea's gonna jump on her Big Wheel and give chase."'' :The Big Wheel was a children's tricycle, popular in the mid-1970s into the 1980s. In 2003, the Big Wheel was re-introduced to the American marketplace under new ownership. *''"He made a bomb out of soap and Paco Rabanne."'' :Paco Rabanne is a perfume made by the Spanish fashion designer of the same name. *''"Graphics by Kenner."'' :Kenner was an American manufacturer of toys (primarily action figures) whose heyday came during the late 1970s until the mid-1980s. * "Herve Villechaize's Death Car!" :Said of the diminutive and not terribly intimidating Enforcer vehicles. (1943-1993) was a dwarf actor perhaps best known for his turns as Tattoo on the original run of the television show and as Nick Nack in the James Bond film . Memorable Quotes : line : Servo (as various characters): Did you sign Sherry's card? : encyclopedia is a bit behind the times. : Crow: It lists Hitler as a "fairly stable veteran of the Great War." : Mike: Oh, come on, they're not that old. They're fine. : Servo: Oh yeah? It mentions the lightbulb as a "charming theory." : Crow: Yeah! And Congress is spelled with an "f." What is it, Congriff? : Mike: Well, I used them when I was a kid. dust off a volume They seemed fine then. : Crow: The periodic table has three elements in it, Mike! : Servo: There's a volume for the letter epsilon. : Crow: There's a mailing address for Macchu Pichu. : Servo: It's got a picture of Stonehenge! : Mike: So? : Servo: Under construction?! : Mike: So, what you high-minded encyclopedia snobs are trying to tell me is, you want a new set. Fine, I'll get you another set. : Servo: Oh, anything that's not handwritten on papyrus will do. : the opening credits the movie's editors are listed one by one : Mike: Passed from editor to editor in a desperate attempt to save it! : attack the shuttlecraft, in scenes lifted from 1978's "Battlestar Galactica" : Mike: Special effects by Industrial Light and Morons. : wearing a space-age leotard, runs toward the burning shuttlecraft : Crow Lea: My Buns of Steel videos are in there! : of the Santa Claus-esque Commander Jansen looking worried : Servo Jansen: But what of the little children and their toys? : Capt. Devers: Whoever did this knew his way around spaceships. : Cmdr. Jansen: I agree. : Mike Jensen: I don't know if this helps, but ho ho ho. : drives into shot in a vehicle marked "ENFORCER" : Mike Kalgan: Hey, you guys, I got my dad's Enforcer for the weekend! : ship's engineering crew have decided to join the mutiny, with one exception : MacPhearson: Gentlemen, it seems that we are not all in agreement. : Mike: I disagree! : MacPhearson: Engineer Parsons seems content to spend his remaining years upon the Southern Sun. : Chief Engineer: Then let him do so alone. : Engineer Parsons: This is mutiny! This is treason, which I warn you I must report. : Crow Parsons: I just have to wet myself first. : MacPhearson: Will you allow him to spoil your ambitions for a greater future? : Chief Engineer: We'll not allow that! No! : Servo: The easily led wise council. : assembled engineers grab hold of Parsons, shove him onto the meeting table and beat him up : Engineer Parsons: Let me go, traitors! : Mike Parsons: What I meant was, I totally endorse what you're doing! G-owww! : Crow: Rip his band uniform, then he'll have to pay for it! : Servo: Next, they're going to give him books so they can dump them. : Crow: Death by snicker-snag! : engineers pin Parsons to the floor, and MacPhearson stabs him through the heart with his walking stick : Mike: I'm going to inflate him to 35lbs! : Servo MacPhearson: Okay, moving on to number three on our agenda, "Sherry's birthday party." : MacPhearson: Are there any other of you that wish to confuse freedom... with treason? : Mike: I'd like to confuse bok choi with cabbage, sir! : MacPhearson: Report to the enforcers' bridge. : Servo: Well, at least it's the rare meeting where something actually got done! : and Lea are arguing about his effort to save someone from the burning shuttlecraft : Ryder: Listen, lady! : Lea: Doctor! : Ryder: Doctor. : Crow: Doctor Lady! : . . . : Ryder: I had to eject! I had no other choice! : Servo Lea: That's Doctor I Had No Other Choice! : . . . : Ryder tries to make up with Lea : Ryder: Listen, uh . . . I understand how you feel. : Mike: It's Doctor Listen Uh I Understand How You Feel. : pushes a mop-haired engineer off a railing : Mike: Oh, no, the death of Rick Springfield! : Servo: I just wish I had Jessie's Giiiiiiiiiiirl! : and Lea jump into an "Enforcer" (resembling a tiny bowling alley floor-polisher) to chase bad-guy Kalgan : Servo: Herve Villechaize's Death Car. : Mike: Jeez, you could walk on your hands and catch up to the guy! : Crow Ryder: Put your helmet on, we'll be reaching speeds of three! : Kalgan: evilly : Servo Ryder: Hit the siren! upbeat tempo circus music : . . . : Crow Kalgan: We need both horsepowers on this thing! : . . . : fires at Kalgan using the Enforcer's side-mounted laser cannons : Mike Bodyguard: I can't go any faster, I'd have to drop the waxing compound! : Sting-like Capt. Devers enters the main control room : Servo Devers: singing De do do do, de da da da, is all I want to say to you... : passes Lt. Lamont, who was just killed in the previous scene : Mike: Hey, wait, she's dead! : Servo: Yeah, she's dead! : Mike: She died! : sits down with Cmdr. Jansen : Capt. Devers: Commander Jansen? : Crow Devers: I think it was very nice of you to give that dead woman another chance. : . . . : and Devers discuss the report on the space pirates : Cmdr. Jansen: I think they want to drive us into the neighboring constellation. : Capt. Devers: Helveca? : Mike Devers: Oh, I love that font! : . . . : Cmdr. Jansen: It's very perilous for everyone on board...we do not make wild accusations...so we keep this Top Classified Secret. : Servo Cmdr. Jansen: Top Super-Duper Maxi-Extreme Ultra Secret. : . . . : again walks past the formerly-deceased lieutenant : Mike Devers: 'Kay, look alive, everybod— oh...sorry, Susan. : engineer MacPhearson hobbles away from a firefight : Crow MacPhearson: A horse! My kingdom for a horse! : Captain Devers: to another character Sir, we both know there's only one man here who's capable of combat. A man who's had training, both physically and mentally. : Commander Jansen: Alright. : Crow Jansen: Fetch me my warrior muumuu. : Ryder shakes hands with Lea's father, Cmdr. Jansen : Mike: We put our faith in Blast Hardcheese. : heroically heads off to face Kalgan. : Mike: There goes a big, brave brick of meat. : narrowly dodges Kalgan and Ryder's incoming Enforcers : Servo: Toro! Toro! These cars are made by Toro! : Mike: You know, a lot of people have compared this to the chariot scene in Ben-Hur? : Servo: Oh? : Mike: Yeah, they usually say something like, "Ben-Hur was really good. This one totally sucked." : dodges dozens of laser beams fired by Enforcers from about 20' away : Servo: Why is he so impossible to hit? Why do they keep missing the slow, giant, white thing? : David Winters favors us with another scene set in a possibly-abandoned boiler room : Servo: Ha ha, good, good, back to the rusting septic system of this FUTURISTIC SPACE SHIP! : Kalgan: I'm going to use this laser on your teeth. It's not unsimilar to ancient dentistry, not that you'd know anything about that. : Servo Kalgan: You're too stupid to know anything about dental history. : Lea: You bastard! : Mike Lea: How dare you insult my knowledge of ancient dentistry! : on a vertically-mounted keyboard : Crow: Wall-mounted keyboards... it must be the future! : and Lea kiss at the end of the film : Servo: They married and had a healthy eight-and-a-half-pound pork roast. : the long end credits, generic 80s music is playing : Servo: Okay, okay Mike, be honest with us. This music kind of really gets your blood going? : Crow: Yeah Mike, this is your music done by your people, so I blame you for this entire movie. : Servo: Yeah, it's just like you to make a movie like this. Geez Mike! : Mike: Hey, I hated it too! What're you picking on me for? : Crow: Well, you were a young guy during the '80s, weren't you? This is your world, admit it. : Mike: Uhhh... : music slows down to a power ballad style : Crow: Okay, now this. This here is the kind of music you get all weepy at at the end of a drunken Friday night, sitting there with your hair all feathered, scarfing down uh, cold potato skins. : Servo: Ahh, your attempt to get little Susie what's-her-name drunk on lime vodka ended in humiliating rejection. So you sit there all mushy and sentimental, reciting to yourself the words to some song by Night Ranger. You're pathetic. : Crow: Yeah, now maybe one homely girl feels sorry for you for a second, but then she sees how stinking drunk you are and gets disgusted. : Servo: And, and maybe the first chair trombone player from the high school band comes by you know, and he takes pity on you, tries to drive you home and all. Oh but''no,'' Mike! You wanna swerve home in your cherried-out Dodge Charger! : Crow: Yeah, you wind up wrestling for your keys with the guy, and he drops you - with one punch - and he leaves. And you lie there knowing you got your butt kicked by the leader of the high school band! : Servo: You're pathetic. : Crow: You and your '80s! : Servo: Your precious '80s! : Crow: You know it would've continued to be the '70s if not for you! : Servo: Yeah! : Mike: All right, all right, that's it, that tears it! : attacks Crow and the three begin fighting on the floor : Crow: You want a piece of me! It's go time, '80s man! : Servo: Come on cool-breeze! Ow owie ow don't! : a while Mike sits up : Mike: Wait, wait you guys, wait, this isn't us man. : of a second : Servo: Yes it is, you hair-feathering freak! Get him! : Crow: No, no, Servo, he's right, he's right. This movie has us turning on each other! It won't end! These credits just won't end! sobbing : Servo: sobbing It's just like the stupid '80s, they never ended either! : Mike: No no, actually they did end Tom, there there, it's okay. See, see there's the copyright, that means it's over. : Servo: sobbing I'm sorry, Mike! : Crow: sobbing Sorry, Mike! : Mike: It's all over, you guys. I'm sorry too. : Video Releases *Commercially released on DVD by Rhino Entertainment in November 2003 as part of The Mystery Science Theater 3000 Collection, Volume 4, a 4-DVD set with Hamlet, Girl in Gold Boots, and Overdrawn at the Memory Bank. **The set was re-released in January 2017 by Shout! Factory. ***The DVD features an intro by Mike Nelson, specifically taped for the release. *Available for rent or purchase on Amazon's streaming service. Category:MST3K Episodes Category:Season 8 Category:Dystopian Film Category:1980s movies Category:PG-rated movies Category:Episodes directed by Kevin Murphy Category:Movies with nudity edited out Category:Movies edited for violent content Category:Space travel films